


This Side of Me

by SaijSpellhart



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! - All Media Types, Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Deathshipping, Kaiba Corp AU, M/M, office buddies, they work together, working for Kaiba
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-27
Updated: 2021-02-01
Packaged: 2021-03-10 18:59:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 7,645
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28352055
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SaijSpellhart/pseuds/SaijSpellhart
Summary: Ryou started a new job working at Kaiba Corp. On his first day he bumps into a familiar face. It seems Malik’s former alter ego is working for Kaiba as well, but as a... janitor?Something is wrong with Yami Marik though. He’s withdrawn and detached. Nothing like the wild stories Ryou has heard about him. As the two form a teasing antagonistic working relationship, Ryou starts to see a different side of Marik, bit by bit. Could he be crushing on the callous yami?Deathshipping, fluff, and romance.
Relationships: Bakura Ryou/Yami Malik, Bakura Ryou/Yami Marik
Comments: 34
Kudos: 22





	1. First Impressions

**Author's Note:**

> The title of the fic is a Savage Garden reference.
> 
> Post YGO DM and DSOD. This will be a series of drabbles taking place at different points in this AU. They won’t all be linear. But they will all take place in the same story/AU.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Characters are adults.
> 
> This story takes place after DM and DSOD.

"This will be your office," Mokuba stepped inside the room, clutching a clipboard to his chest. His smile infectious. "It'll be nice working with someone familiar."

Ryou Bakura stepped into the spacious office, eyes scanning the interior and growing wider by the second. "This is awfully big for a mere consultant. I wouldn't even have enough to fill the space."

The room in question was the size of a large bedroom, a modern steel and oak desk in the center, two book shelves against the wall, and a well-kept potted tree sat in the corner. There was a loveseat, big enough for a person to nap on, and a coffee table before it. Another wall had several filing cabinets, and the third wall was made entirely of tinted glass. It overlooked the city, giving Ryou a fantastic view. At night when the city was glittering and dancing with neon, the view would be breathtaking.

Mokuba didn't seem phased by the extravagance of the space. "Use it as you see fit. The computer and iPad are for you, but Seto mentioned you prefer pencil and paper. So we took the liberty of stocking the desk with notebooks and memo pads."

"Th-thank you." Ryou honestly felt speechless. Kaiba was already paying him awfully well just to help recreate a holographic simulation of the Ring Spirit, as well as a few other former acquaintances of theirs. This personal office seemed like overkill.

"The book shelves are for whatever: books, trinkets, stress relievers. I put Capsule Monsters all over mine."

Ryou thought about bringing some of his Monster World figures from home, and decorating the shelves with them. It would certainly add a personal touch.

A chirping ringtone drew the attention of the two males. Mokuba fished a cell phone from his pocket and answered, "hey bro, what's up?" He shot Ryou an apologetic glance and turned to the door, "be right there, I didn't schedule that meeting until three. I don't know why they're here already."

Ryou watched the younger Kaiba brother depart. He was alone now, in his new office, surrounded by expensive furniture and a view from over forty stories up. _And that's not even at the top,_ he reminded himself sharply, remembering how many floors were on the elevator buttons.

His stomach growled in distress, and Ryou recalled the break room that Mokuba had pointed out during the tour. There were vending machines in there, as well as a tiny kitchen, and a refrigerator, and various coffee machines.

"Well, I won't be remembering much about the Ring Spirit on an empty stomach." With a turn on his heel he started out of the room.

The hallways proved to be a bit more daunting than they were with Mokuba, and Ryou was feeling lost after he turned the third corner. Everything looked so sleek and modern, white walls with metal flourishes and trim. The carpet was short, expensive, and dark blue. It was incredibly easy to get turned around.

He was reading room numbers to himself, trying to recall the layout of the floors based on the fire escape map he'd seen. His anxiety ratcheting up the more lost he felt.

Ryou collided with something hard, sending him staggering back and falling on his butt.

"Ow." He rubbed his nose and looked up, and up, to see what he'd rammed his face into.

Shadowed lavender eyes glared down at him. They were edged in familiar black liner, with delicately drawn wing patterns starting in the corners and cresting towards the nose. A mess of dagger-like sandy blonde hair stuck out around the man's head like a lion's mane.

"Woah... big," was all Ryou managed to blurt rather dumbly.

The man was tall, not as tall as Seto Kaiba, but definitely taller than Ryou. His chest and shoulders were broad, well defined, and his biceps were thicker than the trunks of small trees. His skin was a rich golden brown, like caramel and coffee with a splash of cream.

"Uhhh, M-Mal-"

"Marik," the man cut, correcting him. His dark eyes becoming ever chillier.

"The Yami?" Ryou hazarded a guess. Still too stunned to get off the floor. He cocked his head sharply several times, to counteract his left eye twitching erratically.

"Hn." Marik made a noise of acknowledgement, he watched with curious boredom.

Ryou finally pushed himself off the floor, popping to his feet before the former alter ego. "Wow, I haven't seen you guys in ages. Where's your better half?"

Marik glowered at him with a look so scathing that Ryou almost felt the knife Marik wanted to stab him with.

He involuntarily flinched under the weight of that glare and regretted his words.

"No doubt, off galavanting with yours," Marik remarked cuttingly.

"That's true." Ryou fidgeted a moment and the Yami looked offended by his presence. "So you work for Kaiba now too?" he asked in an attempt to change the subject and lighten the mood.

Marik tapped the KC logo on the breast pocket of his grey-blue coveralls.

"Right," Ryou's brown eyes dragged down Marik's body for a second appraisal. "A... janitor?" he hazarded a guess, and there was nothing mocking in his tone.

Lavender eyes narrowed. Marik appeared to contemplate if there was any ridicule behind Ryou's question. There was not. He looked the white-haired man over in turn. "A coffee-fetching intern?" And unlike Ryou, a cruel sneer curled Marik's lips when he asked this.

"I'm a consultant," he corrected. Recognizing an insult when he heard it.

Marik scoffed, "close enough."

This version of Malik was mean it seemed. Ryou frowned. He'd never known Malik very well, the Ring Spirit—also called Bakura—had been more familiar with the Egyptian tomb keeper; and Bakura still was, according to the hearsay. Upon getting his own body—probably the same way Marik got his—Bakura had up and practically eloped with Malik. Ryou liked to imagine they were on an extended evil honeymoon.

Unfortunately Ryou couldn't see himself getting along quite so well with Malik's alter ego.

Who was currently giving him stanky eyed looks.

"You wouldn't happen to know where the break room is located, would you?" He might as well get out of this Yami's presence, and he wasn't too proud to ask for directions.

Marik's nose scrunched, and he jabbed a finger down one of the halls. Ryou caught a glimpse of gold adorning his wrists when the material of his sleeve pulled back a bit. "You passed it, take a left and it'll be two doors in."

"Thanks!"

"Hm." The Yami brushed past him, continuing his way down the hall, off to do... whatever his job entailed. Ryou couldn't really imagine Marik scrubbing toilets.

"Rude," he hissed to himself when he was alone again. "But not as murderous as everyone told me he was."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter will be the two sharing a bonding moment over tea.
> 
> Edit: I'm going back through the chapters and updating them to include signs of Ryou's albinism. I did a bit of reading up on albinism and learned that the mutation causes a slew of eye problems. Ryou will be far-sighted in this fic, as well as have a head tic, because he tries to counteract occasional spasms that make his eyes twitch, and shift. My goal is to portray Ryou'd albinism more realistically, and not glamorize the mutation.


	2. Tea Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The boys bond over tea.

Over the first few weeks of his new job at Kaiba Corp, Ryou noticed that Yami Marik ignored him.

Whenever he passed Malik's former alter ego, he gave an amiable wave. But the gesture was never returned. Marik never made small talk. And would only glower if Ryou even attempted. Every smile was returned with a frown. Every compliment on Marik's appearance received a callous side-eye. In fact it seemed like Ryou's very presence automatically put the Yami in a mood.

So naturally, Ryou took this as a challenge. If Ryou's exceedingly British pleasantries ruined Marik's day, then it would be his personal mission.

Today he'd greeted Yami Marik with, "Good morning Marik! Must have been a late night? You look positively cream-crackered this morning."

Marik had fixed him with the most perplexed wide-eyed stare, his head tilting ever farther to the side every second his eyes bored into Ryou like knives.

Ryou smiled to himself just thinking about the encounter during his break today.

He was pouring hot water into his travel mug, a multicolored cup with the outside composed of old DnD dice set into molded resin. Yugi had gotten it for his birthday.

His hand slapped around on the shelf above for the box of tea bags. The tea was an assortment he stocked himself. Not impressed with the limited variety and cheapness of what Kaiba Corp provided, he brought his own box of higher quality blends.

Today he pulled out a bag of earl grey.

Ryou dropped the bag into the cup, just as a shadow fell over him.

An intense feeling, like someone dragging claws of ice raked down his back.

He snapped around and was nose to attractive brown collar bone with Yami Marik. Brown eyes darted up to meet unamused lavender. There were thick creases under Marik's eyes. Ryou only intended to be cheeky this morning when he remarked about the Egyptian looking so tired. But it appeared he really was exhausted.

"Am I in the way?" His hand blindly patted around for the travel cup behind him.

"Coffee," Marik grunted.

Ryou's hand clasped around his cup, and he took a generous side step to the right.

Marik moved to occupy the vacated space. He reached for the metal coffee pot, while Ryou played with the string on his steeping tea bag.

"Damn it all to hell," the Yami looked inside the coffee pot and scowled so hard he might have been peering into a portal to the shadow real. He slammed the pot back into the machine.

"There are three more coffee machines," supplied Ryou helpfully. He nodded to the other machines on the counter.

A long brown finger jabbed at the machine farthest on the left. "Decaf," the finger continued down the line, "hazelnut, and light roast. Marik stopped at the machine he'd been interested in. "The dark roast is empty. I'll have to make another pot." He practically spit the last word like it tasted vile.

"There's hot water if you'd like some tea?" Ryou reached a pale hand up to grab his tea box. "I've got some strong stuff."

"I'm not a fop, Bakura."

"Ryou."

Marik blinked at him.

"Everyone called the ring spirit Bakura, I prefer to go by Ryou these days."

"But it's _your_ name." Marik leaned on the counter, taking a curious interest in the conversation.

"I know," Ryou pulled the earl grey bag from his cup, and discarded it in the trash. "But it doesn't feel like mine anymore. And since I'm my own person again, I'd like to be addressed as me."

"Hn," the Yami looked thoughtful. "That's why I'm Marik now. It's not a significant change but..."

"It's yours."

"Mm."

"You know," Ryou extracted a bag of out of his tea box and held it up, "smoked Lapsang Souchong is not for fops."

Lavender eyes narrowed on the expensive tea bag.

"It sounds pretentious."

"Imagine if you drank it. The flavors are bold and smokey, a popular tea choice among coffee drinkers," he tried persuasively.

Marik shoved an empty mug across the counter towards Ryou.

A surge of triumph and Ryou began pouring hot water into the mug, then dropped the tea bag inside. He passed it back to the other male.

Marik stared down at the steeping tea curiously, observing the dark color bleeding into the clear liquid. He bowed his head and sniffed, but said nothing.

Ryou stirred a spoonful of Sugar in the Raw (a natural cane sugar) into his own drink, and took a sip. His nose scrunched and he added another spoonful.

Marik motioned for the sugar as well, and he obliged, sliding the container along the counter top.

"Pretentious sugar," Marik muttered, but he scooped some into his own mug, stirring it along with the still steeping bag.

After another minute—the men sitting in less tense silence—he extracted the bag from his mug, and tossed it into the trash to join Ryou's. Then he took a experimental sip.

Brown eyes were glancing at him expectantly, but kept darting away as if trying a failing to be politely aloof.

Marik savored the flavor, letting it roll over his tongue. He took a second sip.

Rather than deign Ryou with a desired response. He collected the mug and moved to sit at one of the break tables.

"So you like it?"

Marik ignored him and took another sip. But it didn't escape his notice that the sickly pale, white-haired male smiled victoriously behind his own cup of tea.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you like these drabbles, let me know.


	3. Simulation Test

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ryou and Kaiba working on the Ring Spirit hologram. And Marik is an unwilling observer.

"Bakura wouldn't make that kind of play."

Seto Kaiba hit a button on his console, pausing the simulation. This caused Yami Bakura's hologram to freeze in mid-laugh and flicker a bit at the edges. The image was unsettling, to say the least.

"That's what you said last week," Kaiba groused into the intercom from the control room. His voice carried over the speakers into the simulation room where Ryou was standing by with a pen and notebook, jotting down observations.

"Well it's still wrong this week," Ryou pressed, he made a circle around the flickering still image of his former Yami. To give credit where credit was due, Kaiba had recreated Yami Bakura's likeness wickedly well. It was almost giving Ryou anxiety. but then Yami Bakura was practically his evil twin, and Kaiba had used him as a base model for the program.

He reminded himself that this was a simulation, and this Bakura was a hologram. Just like many other simulated people Kaiba had created, he could not hurt anyone.

Ryou cast a glance at the other occupant in the room. At least he had company. Even if not the best company.

Marik was busy replacing a few fuses in one of the panels just beneath the control room. It wouldn't affect the current simulation, these fuses being used for the various scene settings that the room could simulate. Currently the room scene was set to basic.

"Also his laugh is all wrong," Ryou added. "This one sounds too gruff."

"I've altered the laugh twelve times now," Kaiba's voice growled impatiently from the speakers.

Ryou threw up his hands in a defensive gesture. "Hey, I'm just telling you it's off. You asked me to help make this simulation as accurate as possible," he reminded sharply.

"And that's clearly gotten us nowhere."

"I'm trying my best! This is hard for me."

"Well maybe," Kaiba started sounding more than a little exasperated, "if you'd actually demonstrate the laugh so we could have a sample-"

"Oh, go sniff asbestos, Kaiba!" Ryou snarled, cutting him off. He huffed at the windows of the control room.

Marik dropped a screwdriver and snapped his head around to stare at the white-haired man. Who was, actually huffing at Kaiba, and looking like a dog with its hackles raised. Ryou's head kept slightly jerking to the side while he huffed, making the effect look even more snappish. He had to admit he was the tiniest bit impressed. And more than a little amused.

He observed silently, a smile shining in his usually dull eyes.

Ryou appeared to realize what he'd said, because he began apologizing fiercely.

"Sorry!" he yelped. "Very sorry, sir." He gesticulated frantically, before dragging fingers through snowy white hair. "Bloody hell, I don't know what's wrong with me today."

Kaiba's voice came from the speakers once more, "I'll have the voice adjusted again." He sounded neutral, as if Ryou's outburst hadn't phased him. "We're done for the day."

The static image of Yami Bakura flashed away, as well as the various Duel Monsters he'd used.

Ryou felt a little better already. The hairs on the back of his neck relaxed, and he released a breath he hadn't even known he held. "What do you want me to do now?" he called.

"Your job," Kaiba growled back.

"Right. What are you going to do?"

"Apparently," Kaiba snipped, and he may have sounded a little sarcastic, "I'm going to sniff asbestos."

Marik suddenly punched the door to the maintenance panel, denting it, and erupted into a roar of laughter.

It was enough to startle Ryou—who stared at him like a spooked deer—and even carry into the control room where Kaiba was perched in a chair.

"Laugh it up, Dipshit," Kaiba snarled over the intercom. "You fixed my fuses yet?"

Marik continued to laugh, bending over to scoop his screwdriver off the floor.

Ryou was still watching him from the middle of the room. The corner of his mouth twitched because the sound of Marik's genuine laughter was oddly infectious. He'd never heard it before.

The Yami straightened back up, his laughter dying down to a few breathless chuckles, and glanced at Ryou. He shot the white-haired man a brief grin that he could only describe as feral.

Ryou dropped his eyes back to his notepad, suddenly deciding he was busy.


	4. Playing with the Sims

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ryou decides to test out Kaiba’s simulations, much to Yami Marik’s irritation.

The mop made a slooshy noise in the cavernous empty simulation room.

Well, _intermittently_ empty.

Yami Marik watched as a half formed Mai Valentine appeared in the room. Part of her face was all pixelly, and she was missing her body from the waist down, aside from a pair of boots. Her upper body simply floated over the boots, like some demented buxom blonde poltergeist.

He'd been doing his best to try ignore the distraction, and finish mopping the simulation room. But the holograms kept approaching him whenever they were summoned. He had a suspicion that the one responsible for them was getting a kick out of it.

Marik pushed the mop head over her disembodied boots, a half-hearted attempt to clean them off the floor. But the mop went right through them, only managing to disrupt the image into a mess of pixels, before it reformed again.

A second later the unfinished Mai hologram disappeared. And a minute later a Joey Wheeler hologram appeared.

This hologram was much more finished. He greeted the Yami in a familiar and grating Brooklyn accent, all the while sporting the cockiest most annoying grin.

Marik tried in earnest to mop this one away. Scrubbing furiously at Holo-Joey's shoes.

"Oh, this one includes a 'dog' setting," Ryou Bakura's voice called down over the intercom. He was in the control room, playing with the settings of the simulation room while Seto Kaiba was busy running his company. Elsewhere for the day. Marik had warned Ryou not to play with the simulations. But Ryou insisted that he needed to, "for science."

The Holo-Joey became a wash of pixels, and reformed wearing a tan-and-brown dog costume.

"Ya gonna duel, or you gonna drool?" Dog-Joey pumped his fist uncomfortably close to Marik's nose before striking a pose.

Marik shoved the mop through his face.

"Not surprising that Kaiba has a hologram of the Pharaoh. Let's see how finished this one is."

Much to his relief, the annoying blonde dissipated, but it was just as quickly replaced by a hologram of Atem.

Pixels rolled down, making a 3D digital reconstruction of the Pharaoh. Marik watched the righteous bastard himself strut out of thin air, looking just as pompous and conceited as he remembered.

"Why's he so built?" Marik called up, knowing his voice could be heard in the control room.

"Built?"

"Ripped," Marik clarified, his voice sounding wry. He poked the handle of the mop at one of Atem's biceps.

"I dunno..." Ryou trailed off, sounding distracted. "There's a setting for bondage...?"

"What would that have to do with Duel Monsters—Wait! don't!"

But it was too late. Marik watched as a new wave of darker pixels rolled down the Pharaoh's hologram, leaving an outfit change in its wake. His lips curled at the sight before him.

Atem was on his knees now. Staring up at the room's sole occupant. His arms were secured behind his back by leather straps. And he was wearing a leather vest composed of various belts that spanned the width of his chest. He still wore the black choker, as well as the familiar leather pants. But now there was a long thin leather cord hanging from the choker.

"No. Fucking. Way." Marik didn't know whether to laugh hysterically or start gagging.

"So we're playing this game today?" Atem's synthetic voiced purred at the Yami before him. "You never could beat me in Duel Monsters." A cocky sneer pulled at his holographic mouth. "Not without some measure of _manipulation_..."

He decided to gag. "So this is what the fucking bastard does in this room every afternoon!" Marik shook his mop at the suggestive simulation, all the while snarling at the tinted windows of the control room where he knew Ryou was sitting behind the control panel. "The fucking mess! Everyday! Every damn day!"

"What are you waiting for Kaiba? Make your move."

Lavender eyes snapped back to the Pharaoh, and he curled his lip again. "I am _not_ Kaiba."

"I don't think he's programmed to address anyone else," Ryou said, sounding more than a little disturbed.

"Not Kaiba you say..." Atem's eyelids dropped into a knowing look. "We can role play if you wish."

Marik took a swing, with enough force to decapitate a man. The mop head passed harmlessly through Holo-Atem's head.

"Get rid of it!" He swung again, this time smashing the mop over Atem's head, and watching it pass uselessly and strike the floor. "Now! Right Now!" The sound of wood splintering punctuated his demand.

Furious button mashing could be heard over the intercom.

A second later, Holo-bondage-slave-pharoah-Atem blinked out of existence.

"I-I think I'm done testing out the simulations today."

Marik gripped what was left of the splintered wooden handle. And stared at the soggy broken mop head on the floor. A vein on his forehead had dilated, as well as the one on his neck, and his ragged breaths puffed as he fought to regain his composure.

"This is the fourth mop I've broken since starting..."


	5. Coffee, Tea and Dreams

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yami Marik reminisces about when he got hired, while drinking tea with Ryou.

"You came to accept my job offer." It wasn't a question. Seto Kaiba was a brilliant tactician, and he knew when he'd successfully maneuvered, and a pawn had fallen into place.

The veins on Yami Marik's neck dilated. The temper he constantly tried to keep stamped down, roiling just beneath the surface. His usually dull lavender eyes had darkened to the color of burgundy wine as he stared Kaiba down from the other side of the desk.

"So how'd you get separated from Malik anyway?" Kaiba, propped his elbows on the desk, clasped his hands together and rested his chin on his knuckles.

"It's complicated..." Marik started in a low growl. "It involves magic, blood gold, and the mercy of gods."

Kaiba scoffed, and made a dismissive gesture. "Ridiculous. You're just like Yugi and the others. Crowing about non-existent magic, friendship, and voodoo."

"Says the man who makes a living off bringing monsters to life."

"That's science," corrected Kaiba. He sat back in his steep backed chair and drummed his fingers on the arm rest. "They aren't _real_."

"And the Pharaoh? His soul once within Yugi? You believed in that." Marik crossed his muscled arms over his chest and glared down his nose at the CEO. "If I recall you breached the afterlife just to see him again."

"Anything can be explained with enough science." Kaiba opened a drawer and began shuffling around for something. "I don't believe in magic."

"Not believing in something doesn't just make it disappear," sneered Marik.

"On the contrary," corrected Kaiba in a sardonic tone. He sat up again and pushed a pen and a piece of paper towards Marik "I don't believe in Mokuba's dreams, and they disappear all the time."

They exchanged a severe look for a moment, before Yami Marik's eyes dropped to the form on the desk. "Really? Paper? Isn't that too archaic for you?"

"I can't employ you legally. Given your lack of... _human_ status. This covers our bases, without being in my systems. Fill it out, and you can start today. I'll have Mokuba get you a uniform."

A grimace twisted Marik's features as he picked up the pen. He started scratching his information on the form to the best of his ability. Date of birth was a bit shaky, so he used Malik's.

"You want me to clean your simulation rooms and the surrounding facility right? Nothing else," Marik said the last part with an edge of threat. Making sure Kaiba knew he wouldn't agree if there were more strings attached. He wasn't about to be anyone's coffee fetching errand boy.

"As well as some basic maintenance." Kaiba sat back in his chair again and it creaked with the shift of weight.

"Why do you need a private bitch to play janitor for that specific facility?" Marik didn't lift his eyes from the form, still filling in the blanks.

"It's a private project. I don't trust just anyone with the knowledge of it. And you won't go leaking information about it to the press. You owe me after all..."

Marik heaved a sigh through his nose. He had to concede to that. Kaiba did bail him out of jail, as much as he despised the charity. _I do need a job._ He scratched his signature on the bottom of the form so hard the tip of the pen pierced the paper. And if he left a mark on Kaiba's desk, well...

* * *

"He never told you what you'd be cleaning up did he?" Ryou asked, when Marik's story trailed off.

Marik's whole face contorted into a grimace as he stared at the planter filled with lush well-groomed ferns. They were sitting on a bench in the break room, sipping tea together. "I never thought to ask how a room full of holograms managed to get dirty all the time."

Ryou's mouth pulled into a tight line as his thoughts involuntarily supplied the explanation. "Kaiba loves his dragons..."

Marik barked with dry laughter. "The Pharaoh too, even if he'll never admit it. If only the righteous bastard could see what that prick gets up to with his hologram..." he trailed off in dark humorless chuckles.

The two men fell into awkward silence.

The door to the break room whooshed open and Mokuba strolled into the room looking professional and confident.

Brown and lavender eyes fixed on him and he nodded to them in greeting. Mokuba has gotten taller over the years, starting to look as disproportionately lanky as his older brother. But his face, albeit thinner and sharper, was still adorable as ever. When he smiled at them, it was with a bright boyish grin.

"Kaiba got you fetching coffee again?" Marik asked darkly, watching the younger brother approach the countertop lined with various coffee machines.

"I don't mind," he chirped, hopping a bit to collect a travel mug from one of the higher shelves. "I was going to get myself some coffee anyway."

Marik snorted, but said nothing more.

Ryou suddenly surged up from the bench and stalked across the room to join Mokuba. He reached up and snagged the second mug that had been successfully eluding the shorter boy's fingers.

"Thanks!" Mokuba reached to take the mug.

Rather than handing it to him, Ryou flung his arms around the little Kaiba brother, and hugged him fiercely.

"Wha-!" Tension rocked Mokuba, who was not accustomed to physical contact, too shocked to return the sudden embrace.

Even a set of lavender eyes on the other side of the room widened at the sudden show of affection.

"I believe in your dreams, Mokuba." Ryou said sincerely, detaching himself before he gave the boy an aneurism. He stepped back and ruffled Mokuba's soft black hair, messing it up a bit.

For a moment the younger brother only stared, face awash with confusion, awe, and warmth.

Ryou snatched one of the travel mugs and beamed, "So! How does Kaiba take his coffee?"

"As black as his soul," Marik rumbled. "And you aren't his coffee boy."

"I have nothing better to do," he shot the Yami a look and stuck his tongue out.

Marik returned the gesture by letting his own tongue fall from his mouth, long and writhing. Leaning more towards obscene than petulant.

Ryou dragged down an eyelid in retaliation.

They continued making faces, and Mokuba—shocked out of his previous sentimental stupor—blinked at the both of them, before he broke into a fit of giggles.


	6. Eavesdropping

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ryou and Yami Marik notice Yugi sneaking into the Simulation Room and decide to drop some eaves.

Ryou glared at the top of his desk today.

Someone had drawn penises on every single pad of sticky notes he kept there. And he kept a lot of sticky notes. Lime green to yellow, to pink, purple and blue, and every other color in between. And now he was the proud owner of a rainbow of poorly drawn male genitalia.

Was this a jab at his sexual preference? Was someone in the building harassing him because he liked men?

 _How did they even know_? He only ever really hung around with Marik and Mokuba. But it's not like he flirted with either of them.

Marik was intimidating and callous. And Mokuba was five years younger than him. Ryou thought of him as a little brother, who was also his boss, and his actual boss's little brother.

Or maybe this was an immature joke, and someone had a really poor sense of humor?

Whatever the case he was busy crumpling and discarding the defaced sticky notes when Yugi Mutou marched right past his office. Ryou almost called out to him in greeting, so surprised to see his friend, were it not for the expression on Yugi's face.

He looked... stricken. Like something was troubling him as he single-mindedly traversed the halls of Kaiba Corp.

It suddenly occurred to Ryou that Seto Kaiba wasn't in the building today. Neither was Mokuba. And Yugi didn't work here. So, who exactly had he come to see? This certainly wasn't the first time he'd seen Yugi visit this branch of Kaiba Corp. In fact the 'King of Games' had shown up randomly three or four times since Ryou had started.

He was loathe to admit that curiosity got the better of him, and Ryou was out of his chair, pocketing his reading glasses, and slinking down the halls after Yugi like he was on a stealth mission.

They rounded several corners, until it became clear that Yugi was headed for the Simulation Room. Ryou watched his friend dig out a card key, and unlock the door to the control room. He ducked behind a enormous potted plant when Yugi's eyes darted around suspiciously, and he peered around it again just in time to see the spikey-haired male disappear inside.

"What are you doing?"

A masculine growl nearly made Ryou jump out of his skin, and he whirled his head around so fast his neck twinged in pain.

Familiar dull eyes glowered down at him.

"Hi, Marik."

The Yami set his jaw and cocked one sandy blonde brow. He was holding a rag and a bottle of stainless steel polish.

"I'm spying on Yugi," Ryou admitted, straightening up from his crouch and brushing the wrinkles from his clothes. "He went into the Simulation Room."

Yami Marik's bored stare shifted to the closed door of the Simulation control room.

Ryou briefly wondered what Marik must have been like at Battle City. He'd heard stories of this man. Manic, unhinged, deadly Yami Marik. Cackling like a demon, and dramatically sweeping about.

This Marik did none of those things. This Marik was like a hollowed out husk. Resigned, and bitter, and cold. His expression always teetering between contempt and boredom. It was as if all the passion had drained from his life.

Ryou would have thought having his own body, his own life, would have made him... more lively. Not less.

Yami Bakura certainly enjoyed having his own body. The last time Ryou had spoken to him, he'd been enjoying it so much that Malik couldn't walk without a limp.

His thoughts refocused on Marik who had resumed glaring down at him. And Ryou decided it was probably a good thing that Marik wasn't enjoying his own body as much as Bakura. He looked like he could do far worse than love someone so hard they were limping.

Ryou swallowed and straightened his posture. "If you'll excuse me." He turned and stalked away from Marik, refusing to cower beneath his intimidating stare.

Marik wasn't so bad. They drank tea together on breaks. And sometimes laughed, making jokes at Kaiba's expense. It wasn't really a friendship, but Ryou felt like they were amiable coworkers.

When he was about ten feet from the Simulation control room, Ryou began tip-toeing. He crept up to the little window on the door and peered inside. He caught a glimpse of Yugi pressing a few buttons, then snatching up one of Kaiba's remote control gloves, and slipping the expensive piece of technology on.

Once the glove was strapped to his left arm, Yugi stepped into the tiny elevator that would take him down to the main floor of the Simulation Room.

Ryou stepped back and extracted his own access key card from his pocket. He swiped it at the door, and pulled it open, stepping inside the control room. This elevated room had tinted windows, so Yugi probably wouldn't see him from the main floor of the Sim Room.

He took a seat in Kaiba's tall-backed chair, and scooted it as close to the window as he could. Curiosity eating him alive as he watched Yugi stride to the center of the floor.

After a few minutes of Yugi fiddling with holographic options displayed by the control glove, the whole Simulation room became awash in pixels. They quickly reformed into the setting of an ancient Egyptian tomb. Ryou watched in fascination as a holographic clone of Atem stepped out of the shadows and strode into the center of the room just a couple meters away from Yugi.

"Mou Hitori no Boku..."

Ryou probably wouldn't have even heard the whisper if it weren't for the exceptional quality of the microphone in the control glove. All Yugi's words relayed into the confines of the control room for him to hear.

Yugi cleared his throat and the raw sound from his previous words was suddenly buried. Instead he sounded like he was addressing someone over the phone. "I came by to visit today. I wanted to tell you how Grandpa is doing..."

"Are you going to run your mouth, Kaiba, or are we going to have a duel?" Atem's booming baritone interrupted Yugi's words like he hadn't actually heard their context.

"He's speaking pre-programmed lines," Ryou mumbled and his heart clenched so painfully in his chest at the scene below.

Yugi continued to talk, completely ignoring Atem's rude intrusion. "He just got out of the hospital yesterday. They said it was a very very minor stroke. He's going to be ok. But it's still hard. This is his second one. Mom is having a hard time convincing him to slow down and take it easy."

"Your excessive monologuing is expected, but perhaps you are just delaying the inevitable, hmmm?"

"I really miss you right now," Yugi's small hands clutched desperately at the fabric of his arms. He was wrapping himself in a hug. His voice sounded strained, like he was on the verge of tears, but then he reigned it back in. "So, Teá landed a big show in New York. She called to tell me about it. Even sent us tickets. Joey can't make it, but Tristan and I are going to go. You should see her dance. She's gotten really good."

He continued to talk to Atem, like he was filling an old friend in on all the latest news. Atem would occasionally interrupt to spit an out-of-context quip, sometimes addressing Seto Kaiba. They were all things taken and pieced from a script in the programming. And clearly he wasn't programmed to make small talk with Yugi.

"This is sad."

Ryou had to clap a hand over his own mouth to muffle the scream that tore out of his lungs.

He practically jumped to the edge of the chair, all his internal organs rearranging themselves.

Marik loomed behind him, leaning over the left shoulder of the chair, and staring down at the strangely private and heart wrenching scene below.

"How did you get in here?" Ryou finally choked out.

"I followed you in, before the door closed," he said dryly.

"This is a private moment, you probably shouldn't be eavesdropping."

Marik fixed his eyes on Ryou. Their usual lavender color looking very dark in the control room, where the only light came from little blinking knobs and buttons on the panel before them.

"Ke, I'm not the only one dropping eaves on a private moment here." He spun the chair around until Ryou was facing him, and placed his boot on the arm of the chair, leaning over to trap him in the seat.

Ryou scooted away until his back hit the backrest of the chair.

"Unless I'm intruding upon a different private moment?" Marik continued, but this time dark humor laced his tone. He glanced at Ryou's hands and pulled a feral grin.

An involuntary shiver coursed through Ryou, sparked solely by their proximity and the teasing predatory look in Marik's eyes, rather than what he said. This was the tiniest glimpse of the more playful and lively side of this Yami. And he wanted to see more of it.

Ryou suddenly felt embarrassed for enjoying this moment, and chose instead to focus on Marik's words. He wrapped exasperation around him like a cloak.

"I'm not in here having a wank, if that's what you're insinuating." Ryou kicked Marik's boot off the chair, and spun it back around to the face the tinted windows.

The back of the chair caught Marik's chin when he stumbled forward, and the Yami clutched his face, cursing under his breath.

Down below, in the Simulation Room, Yugi was trying futilely to hold Atem's hand. And the scene was enough rip into Ryou's chest. Hot tears stinging his own eyes. Never mind the trails of moisture that were running down the cheeks of the 'King of Games.'

"C'mon." Ryou hopped up from Kaiba's chair. He grabbed Marik's wrist and gently pulled him towards the exit. "We should leave them alone."

To his surprise, Marik didn't protest or put up any resistance.

He trailed after Ryou in silence. The two of them blinked against the harshness of the brightly lit hallway once they'd left the control room.

Marik squinted down at Ryou's milk pale hand still clutching his wrist and the gold bands he wore on his forearms. Ryou was busy blinking back tears, and didn't seam to acknowledge their continued contact.

He twisted his hand to grip Ryou's wrist as well. His brown thumb tentatively rubbed a circle against pale skin. Fascinated by the small contact; He'd never held anyone's hand before. But he'd heard that people found it comforting. Another circle of his thumb. Ryou was a weird kind of soft.

Marik stole a glance at Ryou's face and found brown eyes staring down at their hands. A hideous shade of pink staining the albino man's cheeks and ears, and even his neck.

"Your eyes were leaking." He ripped his arm from Ryou's grip, and rubbed his own wrist like it had been gripped too hard. "And I pity the Pharaoh's host. Not the Pharaoh!" he quickly amended, his features screwing into a disgusted snarl. "Only his host." He stared at his hands rather than Ryou, who was still staring at Marik with stained skin.

An awkward silence fell between them.

The Yami cleared his throat before speaking lowly. "Maybe we could reprogram him..."


	7. Testing Testing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ryou and Marik test out the changes they made to Holo-Atem.

"EEEAAARRG!" Marik howled, and his fist disappeared between the Pharaoh's eyes.

Atem's face became a wash of pixels.

"Say his name!" Marik screamed at the reforming hologram.

"Marik, this isn't helping me reprogram his vocal responses," Ryou's voice called down from the speakers in the simulation room. He was currently in the control room, trying to access the files on his thumbdrive, files that contained new subroutines that should make Holo-Atem recognize and respond to Yugi Mutou.

"Yes, but it's helping me," the Yami shot back acidly. He was panting, his chest aching and his arms sore. He'd been theoretically beating the shit out of Atem for the better part of a half hour.

"Are we really going to keep playing this charade, Kaiba?" Holo-Atem leveled Marik with an exasperated expression, and crossed his arms over his chest.

"His name is Yugi!" Another brown fist flew through Atem's face. "Say it, you righteous bastard!"

"He isn't going to call you, Yugi," Ryou sighed. "My program is designed to recognize the actual Yugi... if it works." He added under his breath.

Marik drove another fist into Atem without any actual prompting from the hologram. This time it went through his collar bone. He watched in pleasure as the Pharaoh's chest dissolved into a mess of pixels. There was something cathartic about all this, even if he wasn't getting to rearrange the face of the real Pharaoh.

"You said the program would recognize Yugi's name," he called up. Marik straightened to take in some much needed breaths. There was going to be sweat stains on his work uniform, and he was going to have to take it home to wash it tonight.

"That doesn't mean I've actually gotten it to work," countered Ryou. "I'm not much of a programmer, and there's still a ton of bugs."

A sudden whoosh sounded behind Ryou, nearly making him bolt from the high-backed chair.

Today was a holiday; they should have had the Sim Room all to themselves. And yet someone had just entered the control room. Not that many people had access keys to this room. He mentally braced himself and whirled around to face whoever had just entered.

Mokuba Kaiba stepped into the dimly lit room clutching a travel mug of coffee and an iPad under one arm. "What are you guys doing in here?" His eyes flickered from Ryou, to the console, and then to the scene in the Simulation room below, where Marik had resumed throwing punches at the synthetic and quite insubstantial Pharaoh.

"Familiarizing ourselves with the ins and outs of the programming," Ryou laughed nervously. While he said this he attempted to put his body between Mokuba and the monitor with windows still open and accessing his thumbdrive files.

"Fucking say Yugi, you bitch!" Marik's wail of rage blared in over the speakers. "Yu-gi! Your host? Your light? Your little boy toy?"

"Y-y-uuugi?" Atem's baritone voice skipped a few times and crackled with static.

"That's what you finally recognized? Boy-toy?" Marik barked in equal amounts of amusement and disgust.

"C-can he he-he-hear me?" Atem's voice fizzled with static, and continued to skip akin to an old CD player.

"Huh," Ryou adjusted his reading glasses and leaned over the console, using his finger to open one of the files. "I don't remember including that one." He puzzled over the web of different response scripts. The file was massive, but definitely not as vast as the scripts Kaiba had programmed Atem to already use.

"Are you guys altering my brother's program to recognize Yugi?"

Ryou was reminded that the youngest Kaiba brother was still in the control room, and was now standing beside him, scrutinizing the monitor over his shoulder.

"Yes...?" He shrank into Kaiba's chair. Which wasn't that difficult because it was entirely too large for him. "Kinda? The subroutine isn't really working properly."

"Do you want help?" Mokuba placed his coffee on the console and perched on the arm of the chair.

"Really?" Ryou brightened at the question. "Are you offering?"

Somewhere down below Marik was howling again and throwing fists with the hologram once more. He looked like a manic demon that was enjoying himself waaay too much. Ryou didn't have the heart to stop him. This was a side of the Yami he barely even glimpsed, and if Mokuba hadn't been there he might have spared a moment to admire Marik's crazed fit of energy.

"Sure," the younger Kaiba brother replied. "I take it you caught Yugi sneaking in here too?"

Ryou nodded somberly, remembering the way the King-of-Games spoke to the hologram of Atem. How holo-Atem had obliviously addressed Seto Kaiba, and how Yugi had eventually broken down into tears. It still tore at his heart in the worst way.

"Are you any good at programming?" Ryou asked.

"You're kidding, right?" Mokuba sniggered at him. "My elder brother is Seto Kaiba. Of course I'm good at programming. I wouldn't be assistant CEO of this company if I wasn't." He pulled up his iPad and unlocked the screen. Fingers flew over the device as he began typing furiously. "Send me access to those files, I'll have a look and see if I can't find the bugs."

Ryou turned back to the monitor, opening a window and dragging the files off his thumbdrive into a sharing folder with Mokuba on the KC network. He watched as they began to download.

"Your brother won't get mad?" He asked.

"Pfft. Let him get mad. He should have done this himself months ago."

Ryou didn't want to point out that _that_ would require Seto doing something thoughtful for someone else. Something hideously out of character for the egotistical CEO. Instead he asked, "how come you're here anyway? Isn't today a holiday?"

Mokuba made an about face, and settled on a lopsided smile, "when your brother is the boss, no day is a holiday."

Ryou could only scrunch his nose at that.

As the files transferred his gaze drifted back down to the crazed Yami who was currently trying and failing to claw the Pharaoh's eyes out. He propped an elbow on the console, resting his chin in his hand to watch over the top of his glasses. A fond sigh escaped him. And despite himself, a smile pulled at the corner of his mouth.


End file.
